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Blackstone Group LP, General Electric Co.'s GE Real Estate, Australian property concern Mirvac Group and Mulpha International are all expected to make bids for a controlling stake in struggling Australian retail-property owner Centro Properties Group. Centro will collect bids within the next several weeks. Details of the expected bids were not disclosed.

Following Fannie Mae's report of an almost $3.6 billion fourth-quarter loss, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said it will lift the mortgage investment limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The latter is due to report financial results today. The loss reveals the constraints on the government-sponsored companies in aiming to prop up the troubled housing market.

With investment banks caught in the credit crunch, private equity firms are turning to sovereign wealth funds to help finance large leveraged acquisitions. The move indicates buyout firms believe the credit squeeze will last longer than originally expected.

Commercial real estate is either sliding into or already in a significant down cycle, according to New York attorney Robin Panovka. "The fact that REITs are now trading at what is believed to be a significant discount to their estimated net asset value (NAV) -- 20% to 25% in some cases -- may be an indicator of what is going to happen with private sector valuations," he said. The credit crunch has stopped the rush of taking REITs private.

Centro Properties Group said it is "optimistic" it will get an extension from its lenders on $3.4 billion of short-term debt due Friday. The Australia-based retail-property owner is one of the world's largest landlords and the fifth largest in the U.S. by square footage. The emergence for several bidders for Centro has helped efforts to obtain the extension.